Expenses for visits by federal leaders not fully borne by state: Kedah MB

ALOR SETAR: Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah today explained in the state legislative assembly that the state government does not fully bear the expenses during the visit of federal leaders to the state.
The expenses were dependent more on the 'ownership' of the programmes, he said.
If the visits were by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister and were related to UMNO or Barisan Nasional, the party would take care of the expenses, he said in an intervention during Question Time.
"The expenses for a recent programme of the Prime Minister with Kedah civil servants was borne by the Implementation Coordination Unit of the Prime Minister's Department," he said.
Mohd Azam Abd Samat (PAS-Sungai Limau) had wanted to know the cost incurred by the state government during the visits of federal leaders to the state.
Ahmad Bashah said that when the Prime Minister recently distributed the monsoon season aid to smallholders and rubber tappers, the expenses for the visit were borne by the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Industry and Investment, Domestic Trade, Consumer Affairs and Cooperatives and Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand Growth Triangle, Datuk Dr Ku Abdul Rahman Ku Ismail, said the visits of federal leaders had its benefits.
"They come at their own expense. When they are here, there will be allocations for us, for this project and that project … it is to our advantage," he said.
On the alleged huge expenditure of the state government for the Aidilfitri reception, Ku Abdul Rahman​​ said it was no loss 'investing' in such a programme because it was held only once a year and it was to reach out to the people. — Bernama